Determined to erase the Acid Reflux incident from our collective conscious, the spunky Ashlee Simpson booked herself into theatres for her first headlining tour. But instead of using Toronto’s Massey Hall's hailed acoustics to her advantage, Simpson instead cranked up the volume to distorted arena levels to match the frenzied shrieks of her mostly teenage female audience.

If there's a big voice in that feisty little girl, it was overshadowed by her girlish squeal recalling more Gwen Stefani than Joan Jett, possibly her raven-haired inspiration.

Like most young performers, Simpson prefaced songs with explanations; for example — "This song is about finding your identity," which led into "Shadow," a fan favourite for its less-than-cryptic thoughts on overcoming sibling rivalry.

The excited, glo-stick waving girls in search of their own identities ate it up. During the opening title song from her debut disc Autobiography, the rabid fans stormed the edge of the stage to the chagrin of Massey security who couldn't clear the aisles until a few songs in.

All the crowd wanted was to get close to their pint-sized hero who was clad in tight pinstriped pants and underwent a few costume changes during the 50-minute set. Yellow silk-screened tee? Check. Pink feather boa? Yes. Gothic black-and-gold robe from the set of Interview With The Vampire? Uh huh.

When you're 20, the world is still a fashion show and you've got to strut, which is pretty much what Simpson did during songs like "Nothing New," the encore sing-along for her hit "Pieces Of Me" and the '80s-sounding "Surrender" (enhanced by inserting the opening of Hole's "Celebrity Skin" at the midway point). Energetically zipping left and right, employing karate kicks, tossing her jet-black hair, jiggling her butt and showing off some ass-crack, Simpson has the performance part of her act down pat.

But she still can afford some better sound as well as a deeper mini-acoustic set — which contained unexplainable shortened versions of "Giving It All Away" and "Love Makes The World Go Round." A later medley of '80s hits, including The Pretenders' "Brass In Pocket," Blondie's "Call Me" and Madonna's "Burning Up," was fun, though Simpson is still far, far away from meeting Chrissie Hynde's smoldering rock sexiness.

Meanwhile Simpson's openers are threatening their own breakthroughs. Philadelphia's Pepper's Ghost are, like, a real indie retro-rock band with some wiry vocals that recall the Beatles and David Bowie, while co-frontman Michael Montesano has obviously been studying his Mick Jagger and Iggy Pop stage moves. They also have very good hair.

But the surprise of the night was Boston's The Click Five, a quintet of fresh-faced kids who might incite the same kind of mania as their Fab Four heroes. Snappily dressed in black suits, black ties and pink shirts, the group churned out some irresistible, Ash-like power-pop filled with melodic hook after hook, such as synth-happy nuggets like "Pop Princess." They even covered — holy crap! — Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now"; any band who does that has got to be awesome. The Click are like That Thing You Do! come to life, and the members should have nicknames and trading cards any minute now.